Stepping Stones into the River

Blog 9

January 1, 2017

Stepping Stones into  the River

My five year old granddaughter Harper often paints a series of the same picture.  Right now she is drawing stones of different sizes and colors that  lead to a river, which is a circle that comes back on itself.  

This led me to think about the political river we are all part of and how we will get to it and will or won’t step  into it.  On NPR’s The California Report they have begun a Resolve 2017 asking people to post the ways that they will be active this year.  Personal resolutions are always important at the new year,but this year the larger issues seem to loom.  My step-son Joe is contemplating how to affect climate change.  Many friends are donating to non-profits that support social justice.  As you can tell I am obsessed with writing this blog and capturing the energy and efforts that are springing up in reaction to Trump’s election. I used to believe that change comes in the most difficult times.  I often voted for third party candidates in an effort to bring on the “revolution”.  This belief may be well tested over the next four years.

Last night at a New Year’s dinner with friends we spoke about our isolation from people different from us and how we wish to widen our circle.  This reminded me of a Sufi story from Indries Shah’s  “Tales of the Dervishes.”

The Founding of a Tradition

Once upon a time there was a town composed of two parallel

streets.  A dervish passed through one street into the other, and as

he reached the second one, the people there noticed that his eyes

were streaming with tears. ‘Someone has died in the other street !

one cried, and soon all the children in the neighbourhood had

taken up the cry.

What had really happened was that the dervish had been peeling

onions.

Within a short space of time the cry had reached the first street;

and the adults of both streets were so distressed and fearful (for

each community was related to the other) that they dared not

make complete inquiries as to the cause of the furor.

A wise man tried to reason with the people of both streets, asking

why they did not question each other. Too confused to know what

they meant, some said : ‘For all we know there is a deadly plague

in the other street.’

This rumor, too, spread like wildfire, until each street’s populace

thought that the other was doomed.

When some measure of order was restored, it was only enough

for the two communities to decide to emigrate to save themselves.

Thus it was that, from different sides of the town, both streets entirely

evacuated their people.

Now, centuries later, the town is still deserted; and not so far

away are two villages. Each village has its own tradition of how it

began as a settlement from a doomed town, through a fortunate

flight, in remote times, from a nameless evil.

Part of stepping into the river this year could be reaching out to people who think differently so as not to create separations based on false knowledge and misunderstandings.

Wise Words

Sent to me by Joan Carney from Joan Daly Lewis:

Rev. Barber: We are witnessing the birth

pangs of a Third Reconstruction.

We need a moral movement to create change.

https://thinkprogress.org/rev-barber-moral-change-1ad2776df7c#.3p6ba4t6z

Excerpt:

While we do, indeed, face a dire situation, this is not new. Trumpism is

as American as apple pie. There could be no Donald Trump without

America’s first black president. Brother Van Jones got it right on election

night: we experienced a “whitelash.” And we must be clear: every

stride toward freedom in U.S. history has been met with this same

backlash……

What have we learned?

First, we must recognize the need for indigenously led, state-based,

state-government focused, deeply moral, deeply constitutional, antiracist,

anti-poverty, pro-justice, pro-labor, and transformative movement

building. There’s no shortcut around this. We must build a movement

from the bottom up. We must build relationships at the state level

because that’s where most of the extremism of the current-day deconstructionists are happening. They see the possibility of a Third Reconstruction,

which is why they’re working so hard this time to strangle it

in its cradle — and we must know that. We have to recognize that helicopter leadership by so-called national leaders will not sustain a moral

movement. What you need are local movements. The nation never

changes from Washington, D.C. down. History teaches that it changes

from Selma up, from Birmingham up, from Greensboro up.

Secondly, we need to use moral language, like the devotees of the First

and Second Reconstructions. Moral language can re-frame and critique

public policy regardless of who’s in power. A moral movement claims

higher ground than merely a partisan debate, something that’s bigger

than left versus right, conservative versus liberal. We have to begin to

re-frame the conversation not to talk about left policies and right policies,

but let’s talk about violence. And as people who run for office, are

you on the side of violence? …..

Moral language gives you new metaphors. You can say, I’m against this

policy not because it’s a conservative policy or a liberal policy, I’m

against this policy because it’s constitutionally inconsistent, it’s morally

indefensible, and it’s economically insane.

From reader Tom Hoeber:

I've just been reading a book about Presidents from the mid-20th Century to date, and it gives me hope for our country under the new administration. Why? Because we endured a truly horrible president in the person of Richard Nixon, and survived. Nixon was a liar and a disgusting human being, crudely demeaning in "locker-room language" not just women but everyone who was an "enemy". He suborned crimes in the form of break-ins to the Watergate offices of the Democrats, the office of an enemy's psychiatrist and the Brookings Institution. He committed treason and violated the Logan Act to defeat LBJ's peace treaty with the Vietnamese until after his election. He shamed the Presidency and the country.

But we survived.

And we will again.

From a Facebook posting by Kaethe Weingarten:

https://www.thenation.com/article/no-place-self-pity-no-room-fear/

Toni Morrison 

Excerpt:

There is no time for despair, no place for self-pity, no need for silence, no room for fear. We speak, we write, we do language. That is how civilizations heal.

I know the world is bruised and bleeding, and though it is important not to ignore its pain, it is also critical to refuse to succumb to its malevolence. Like failure, chaos contains information that can lead to knowledge —even wisdom. Like art.

Action:

Post your 2017  action resolve on NPR :

https://ww2.kqed.org/news/2016/12/27/whats-your-political-resolution-for-2017-resolved2017/

Sent to me by Louise Schneider. -

Reminder! Earth2Trump Action Coming Up!

You’re invited! On Monday, January 2nd, please join us as we participate in Earth2Trump, an action that is part of a 16-city, cross country sequence of events, on its way to Inauguration Day in Washington, DC.  It will be held in Oakland, a city Donald Trump once called one of the most dangerous in the US. (http://sfbaypsr.us7.list-manage.com/track/click?u=cd8d0c4b0e1bbf208e197b44d&id=6a3721f302&e=844b7f26d3)

Organized by the Center for Biological Diversity, (http://sfbaypsr.us7.list-manage.com/track/click?u=cd8d0c4b0e1bbf208e197b44d&id=7f625b27f4&e=844b7f26d3) the actions will build momentum for a movement of resistance to Trump and will culminate in a press event in Washington, DC that will include thousands of protesters. The Bay Area event will include speakers and music, including spoken-word artist AshEL Eldridge, the music of folk rocker Casey Neil, as well as the Afrobrazilian band Namorados da Lua.

This event gives all of us a chance to have our voices heard, loud and clear, as we move into such uncertain and terrifying times. Participants can share and amplify their stories and hopes for a different future. Just as importantly, you can share your pledges of resistance by dropping them in a huge art installation – a large, transparent globe -- that will travel with the tour.

Where: Omni Commons in Oakland (http://sfbaypsr.us7.list-manage1.com/track/click?u=cd8d0c4b0e1bbf208e197b44d&id=978b4e8c74&e=844b7f26d3) , close to MacArthur Bart.

When: January 2^nd at 5:30. The program will run from 6-8pm

Cost: Free!

For more information, go here! (http://sfbaypsr.us7.list-manage.com/track/click?u=cd8d0c4b0e1bbf208e197b44d&id=8f257e78a4&e=844b7f26d3)

We will send you an announcement of the Washington, DC press event! We are eager through this and other actions to build the resistance and provide for a better future for us all.

Planed Parenthood Petition

http://action.kirstengillibrand.com/p/dia/action3/common/public/?action_KEY=1132&track=ads_facebook_ppPetition_dla